Companies venture into social networks terrain

Not long after he launched Franbuy early this year, Kevin Abt decided that he needed to showcase his credentials and his company's values to prospective clients who find him on the Internet. Abt connects people who want to go into business for themselves with franchises that could be a good fit for their needs.

"It's kind of like being a matchmaker," Abt said of the business, which he operates out of his home in Sharon, Massachusetts, south of Boston. "I will put them before two, three, four opportunities that I think will fit with them."

Abt wanted to control the information that was presented about him, so he turned to Ziggs, a Boston-based search startup where professionals can seek out potential business contacts from online profiles hosted by Ziggs and written by the individuals they are about. Abt chose to have a family photo along with a biographical narrative on the Ziggs database while he finishes a Web site for his company. His domain, franbuy.com, redirects to the Ziggs database.

"In 60 days' time, I've built relationships with consultants and business brokers in 35 different cities," Abt said recently after he had used Ziggs' service for two months. His use of Ziggs is an example of how people are increasingly using technology for building work-related webs of relationships, or social networks

Social networks as an area of study is well established, melding elements of sociology, psychology, management, information systems and computation. More recently, the combination of technology and social networks has taken root, sprouting startups hither and yon. At the same time, companies have increasingly turned to collaborative tools and applications to cut costs and increase performance and communications. Web logs, both publicly available and behind corporate firewalls, are a fairly new and important element of social networking, which is a whole different beast on the Internet, with its possibilities for connecting people.

Ziggs is one of the most recent entries into that ever-expanding commercial zone focused on helping people in a diverse spectrum of professions connect with others and keep their contacts current and organized. Ziggs' focus is on search technology rather than on networking per se, but the business model in play finds its roots in social networking, which caught a wave of investors in 2003, the year that LinkedIn launched.

Based in Palo Alto, California, LinkedIn is one of the most oft-cited examples of a commercial venture based on social networking concepts. LinkedIn membership is free and permits searching a database with information on 2.8 million professionals, according to the company. That number grows as users invite others to join their networks, prompting LinkedIn to send e-mail invitations to attract more people to sign up. Users can search for potential clients, sales leads, partners or industry experts, as well as look for jobs. Lawyers, public relations and marketing professionals, management consultants, financial planners and IT specialists also can be searched for at the LinkedIn site.

Friendster, which sticks more with helping friends rather than business contacts stay connected, is another example of a social-networks service. Both Friendster and LinkedIn store profiles, allow users control over information kept and disseminated about them, and rely on search technology.